What are one of the best puzzle video games on PC? Puzzle video games can comprise a wide range of brainteasers, from basic head-scratchers to frustration-fueled issues. Whether or not you’re on the lookout for intelligent dialogue, shifting narratives from wealthy tales, or a wholesome dose of laughter along with your conundrums, puzzle video games are versatile sufficient to discover a option to do all of it.
This huge style covers every thing from point-and-clicks to tetromino trickery and quantum physics capers, and people we’ve listed beneath are so good they have been even thought-about for our checklist of one of the best PC video games. Our complete checklist outlines one of the best puzzle video games, together with enjoyable video games, co-op video games, and even pirate video games — and some very acquainted faces.
Right here are the finest puzzle video games on PC in 2024:
The Talos Precept 2
If you happen to’re a real glutton for punishment, then let The Talos Precept 2 fry your mind with each mind-bending puzzles and thought-provoking philosophy. The 2023 follow-up to what’s extensively thought-about among the finest puzzle video games of all time, The Talos Precept 2 greater than matches the brilliance of its predecessor.
Taking the type of an android created to assist the embers of human tradition stay on after humanity was worn out in a pandemic, you initially get tasked with investigating a disturbance exterior the android-made metropolis of New Jerusalem. Nevertheless, it’s not lengthy earlier than your basic understanding of civilization is warped ceaselessly.
Cocoon
Typically you simply need to be a little bit bug scuttling about fixing varied bug-sized puzzles, and Cocoon’s right here to facilitate this need. This isometric puzzler takes place throughout a number of worlds – the kicker being these worlds are all contained inside spheres which will be stacked inside one another like celestial Matryoshka dolls.
Although not the longest sport on our checklist – we cleared Cocoon in round 5 hours – Cocoon stays a agency favourite of ours, and matches stunning presentation with elegant execution.
Animal Nicely
If you happen to’re a fan of puzzle video games that offer you little or no route, Animal Nicely could also be what you’re trying to find. Alone within the dimly-lit world, you play as a yellow blob trapped inside an interconnected labyrinth. As you make your approach all through the world, you quickly uncover there are 4 zones to discover and uncover, every containing distinctive gadgets to seek out and puzzles to resolve. One of many zones has an space that includes each collectible, so give our Animal Nicely egg areas information a learn if you wish to unlock all of those exhausting to seek out gadgets.
A part of Animal Nicely’s allure is having the ability to remedy the thriller of the world by yourself, however we don’t blame you if you could use guides to seek out out every thing the sport has to supply. Try our Animal Nicely candles information to seek out all 9 of the gadgets dotted across the map, and we even have an Animal Nicely quick journey information if you wish to zoom across the map. Lastly, don’t neglect to learn our Animal Nicely evaluation to see what makes this solo-developed sport so particular.
Teardown
We will forgive you for making the belief that almost all puzzle video games are for glasses-wearing nerds, however Teardown proves you don’t must be a pencil-pushing dweeb to take pleasure in puzzle video games. On this totally destructible voxel world, Teardown places you in conditions the place you could discover the answer to carry out the right heist. Locked and loaded with an arsenal of damaging instruments, you may create customized options utilizing sticks of dynamite to tear down buildings in seconds.
That includes a completely fledged marketing campaign the place you will need to discover a option to repay your mountain quantity of debt, Teardown places you within the sneakers of an individual compelled into felony acts. You’re going to must study to steal autos, rob banks, and kill robots that guard large stacks of money. When you end the 40-mission lengthy marketing campaign, there’s a big sandbox to discover if you wish to calm down and discover new methods to destroy buildings.
Peggle Deluxe
This delightfully easy puzzle sport is enjoyable it doesn’t matter what age you’re. Your aim is to hit all of the purple pegs, and to make issues thrilling, each degree options pegs overlaid on a enjoyable picture, revealing a cute image if you’re completed. All you could do is consider the physics of every of your pictures, permitting you to fastidiously pick the right shot and have it ricochet alongside the purple pegs on the board. After all, you solely have a restricted variety of pictures to perform this activity.
There are ten magical powers in Peggle Deluxe which activate if you hit a inexperienced peg, every that includes a capability that helps you clear some purple pegs on the board. For instance, the Flower Energy routinely blooms a number of close by purple pegs with out you needing to hit them. As you make progress within the marketing campaign, you may unlock some wacky powers, together with a magical owl that picks out essentially the most optimum shot to earn essentially the most quantity of factors. If you happen to haven’t given this basic puzzle sport a attempt, you want to take action straight away.
Tough Towers
Developer Bizarre Beard takes the basic constructing blocks of the basic puzzle sport, Tetris, and provides physics to the equation. If you happen to haven’t seen any gameplay, simply think about your Tetris items must take physics into consideration, that means you may’t create skinny stacks of blocks with out worrying about your tower tipping over. You play as a wizard in Tough Towers, offering you with entry to spells that make it easier to construct your tower, or cease your opponent from establishing theirs. The result’s a messy, but hilarious expertise that may be performed with a number of folks each on-line.
Islands of Perception
Islands of Perception is a shocking and distinctive puzzle sport set in a large, fantasy, open-world surroundings. As you set out on a peaceable journey the world over’s floating islands, you’ll encounter a few of over 10,000 puzzles, in addition to another gamers sharing the large on-line world with you.
Poppy Playtime
If horror is extra up your avenue, there are tons of nice puzzle video games to select from – together with classics like Resident Evil, the survival horror style simply fits puzzle fixing mechanics.
Poppy Playtime takes inspiration from horror video games earlier than it, similar to 5 Nights at Freddy’s, utilizing the youngsters’s play space horror trope for an ongoing collection of ‘chapters’ we’re but to see the top of. At the moment, we’ve reached the third installment within the collection, with every episode happening in a special surroundings, however every using more and more complicated puzzle mechanics when you attempt to escape the horrors created by Playtime Inc.
Learn our Poppy Playtime Chapter 3 evaluation for a spoiler-free run-down of what to anticipate from the collection as a complete, and dive into Chapter 1 to grasp the mechanics of the GrabPack, and the puzzles you will need to remedy with it.
Baba is You
Baba is You is a gateway puzzle sport for anybody with a imprecise curiosity in studying programming languages. Each object has a specific rule it obeys someplace on the extent. The trick right here is which you can change these guidelines by pushing new objects of their place. For instance, if you wish to grow to be a block, you may push a block rather than the Baba icon in order that the code reads “Block Is You”. It begins easy, however this deceptively lovely puzzle sport will quickly put your logic abilities to the take a look at.
Sizeable
Sizeable may be the lighthearted puzzle sport for individuals who love a little bit of terraforming. Fixing every puzzle requires altering the dimensions of objects on the map, similar to making canvas tents larger to bounce a cannonball onto the goal. You too can have an effect on sea ranges by altering the moon’s measurement or the season by clicking on the solar. It’s a comparatively quick sport in comparison with others on the checklist, but it surely has loads of secrets and techniques to uncover. If you happen to want a little bit extra convincing, a demo is accessible on the Sizeable Steam web page so that you can attempt.
Opus Magnum
It might have a extra mechanical look than others on this checklist, however Opus Magnum has a lot of the identical programming enchantment as Baba is You. Nevertheless, Opus Magnum is extra targeted on utilizing hexagonal shapes, gears, and droppers to mix elements, and it’s immensely satisfying when every thing comes collectively. While you finally run out of ranges, there’s a Steam Workshop neighborhood crafting new puzzles with ever-increasing ranges of complexity. It might be a number of years previous now, but it surely earned excessive reward throughout our greatest video games of 2017 season, and it nonetheless holds as much as this present day.
Unpacking
Take the stress of shifting and switch it on its head with Unpacking. This emotionally charged however enjoyable puzzler tells a significant story whereas reminding its gamers that not everybody inhabits areas the identical approach.
Gamers are tasked with discovering properties for all home items, from bathroom paper to books and even diplomas. Paying consideration pays off, as acquainted objects and altering areas reveal extra concerning the sport’s protagonist and their life’s journey as they transfer from place to position throughout their life. You begin as an voyeur and go away with intimate data of their journey.
With BAFTA award-winning music from Jeff Van Dyck and meticulously detailed pixel artwork, Wren Brier and the crew at Witch Beam ship a handmade world. This world doesn’t demand your consideration, however asks for it kindly whereas providing a cup of tea.
Escape Academy
In Escape Academy, retaining your coronary heart fee down is troublesome, as that is one high-pressure puzzle sport. The place typical escape rooms could finish after fixing a number of tough exams, this intelligent indie is about in a college of the escape arts, with a curriculum stuffed with intrigue, lacking individuals, and mind-boggling exams to be accomplished.
After a seemingly easy introduction, you’re welcomed into the hallowed halls of the Escape Academy and tasked with battling towards the clock with different college students and your mind. A seasonal campus serves as a becoming backdrop to every set of challenges, with chunky cel-shaded belongings and totally realized characters inviting gamers down the rabbit gap – no pocket watch wanted.
And, if you happen to wrap up the principle marketing campaign, there’s a season go of DLC stuffed with headache-inducing trickery for these on the lookout for extra scrumptious morsels of thriller.
Return to Monkey Island
Ron Gilbert’s pivotal pirate has returned, taking up enemies previous and new. On this hotly anticipated follow-up, the Horrible Toybox crew asks vital questions like, ‘What’s nostalgia’, ‘Are you able to preserve a legacy’, and… ‘Is scurvy contagious?’
Be part of Guybrush Threepwood as he searches for objective and eventually seeks the true secret of Monkey Island, with the burden of his previous adventures in tow. Threepwood’s charms is probably not as efficient in navigating this new, extra trendy pirate world. Nevertheless, a legacy of kindness and intelligent wordplay retains the lovable pirate on the heart of his common hijinx, quirky quizzes (our information to the Return to Monkey Island trivia playing cards will assist right here), and intriguing point-and-click puzzles.
A vibrant cartoonish artwork type from Rex Crowle places a sensational spin on Monkey Island’s iconic pixelated previous, complemented by scene-stealing characters with huge personalities.
Portal 2
No checklist of one of the best puzzle video games could be full with out Portal 2, a legendary journey that may proceed reliving within the highlight lengthy past this checklist. Recognized for being a head-tickling story stuffed with sarcasm, turrets, and ground-breaking teleportation tech, the maestros at Valve made positive Portal’s youthful sibling could be one for the historical past books.
After reaching nice success with the unique sport, Portal 2 provides extra bold and strong mysteries to resolve, ones that gamers can strategy in varied methods. All you want is your trusty portal gun, a dose of lateral considering, and a superb chunk of luck, and Aperture Science is your oyster. Gamers are tasked with navigating via the attractive remnants of a once-futuristic facility to seek out their freedom, in addition to the pockets of lore hidden fastidiously in its partitions. Simply be ready for the game-changing goops and cubes that come to complicate its later puzzles. It’s so good, the truth is, that it’s additionally on our checklist of one of the best co-op video games.
Tetris Impact
Do your self a favor and play Tetris Impact with headphones on. This intelligent synaesthetic spin-off of the ‘80s basic brings beats and bliss, making stacking blocks really feel emotionally charged. Every degree is tied to dynamic dioramic environments that work together with every transfer, your each resolution pulling you deeper right into a cleverly crafted internet from the thoughts of Rez and Lumines’ Tetsuya Mizuguchi.
Previous-school Tetris ways are nonetheless very welcome right here, however beware, Tetris Impact’s disarmingly stunning imagery could search to distract you from the duty at hand. Discovering a option to stability your consideration between its stunning vistas and the necessity for the proper tetromino can prevent from some painful losses as you play via its epic marketing campaign, which is aptly named Journey Mode.
The Pedestrian
Discover a new love for industrial imagery with The Pedestrian, a platforming side-scroller providing intelligent sign-based storytelling from a singular perspective. You play as a plucky stick determine who flips, switches, overcomes obstacles, and jumps between literal signage within the 2D area because the bustling 3D world continues round them.
As you piece collectively The Pedestrian’s broader narrative puzzle, you’ll assist your determine buddy construct confidence and rearrange street indicators to maneuver round an enormous concrete jungle, with all of its anxiety-inducing options entrance and heart, impeding your pathways via the sweetly-soundtracked city sprawl.
Return of the Obra Dinn
Strap in your investigative boots and put together to look at what’s left of a once-missing service provider ship in The Return of the Obra Dinn. 5 years since its voyage, this as soon as nice vessel is now a hole shell, stuffed with ghosts and thriller aching to be uncovered.
As an insurance coverage appraiser, gamers should deduce how a ship stuffed with sea folks and high quality items may go tragically lacking. Your proverbial magnifying glass is the Memento Mortem, a pocket watch that, when used on a corpse, transports you into the moments proper earlier than their demise. On this death-filled diorama, quick-witted exploration provides clues and details about what occurred on this fateful enterprise. Let’s hope you’ve got your sea legs, it will likely be a bumpy journey.
The Witness
Waking up on a mysterious island along with your reminiscence lacking is probably not essentially the most welcoming premise. Nonetheless, by wading into the mysterious waters of The Witness, chances are you’ll discover a significant message hidden inside this enigmatic indie that makes it effectively definitely worth the puzzling playtime.
On this lonely berg stuffed with luscious biomes, there may be solely ahead movement: Interacting with grid puzzles of various difficulties. The Witness always teaches gamers new guidelines and instruments, enabling additional exploration, whereas non-obligatory video and audio logs found all through the journey present slivers of data mandatory to know the participant’s objective on the island. Look inward as you methodically unlock all of its areas, and if you happen to really feel misplaced, bear in mind to maintain going, as The Witness is simply as complicated as your subsequent puzzle.
If you happen to’ve exhausted this checklist of one of the best puzzle video games, why not take a look at our picks for one of the best journey video games on PC? Loads of them share comparable traits to the titles on this checklist, or our checklist of one of the best story video games could assist if you happen to’re on the lookout for one thing a little bit extra narrative-driven.
